Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 53

_We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full a.s.surance of hope unto the end_.--HEB. vi. 11.

_The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil_.--2 THESS. iii. 3.

Long though my task may be, Cometh the end.

G.o.d't is that helpeth me, His is the work, and He New strength will lend.

ANON.

Set yourself steadfastly to those duties which have the least attractive exterior; it matters not whether G.o.d's holy will be fulfilled in great or small matters. Be patient with yourself and your own failings; never be in a hurry, and do not yield to longings after that which is impossible to you. My dear sister, go on steadily and quietly; if our dear Lord means you to run, He will "strengthen your heart."

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES.

Always begin by doing that which costs me most, unless the easier duty is a pressing one. Examine, cla.s.sify, and determine at night the work of the morrow; arrange things in the order of their importance, and act accordingly. Dread, above all things, bitterness and irritation. Never say, or indirectly recall anything to my advantage.

MADAME SWET CHINE,

October 14

_He that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death_.--PROV. viii. 36.

_But now being made free from sin, and become servants to G.o.d, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of G.o.d is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord_.--ROM. vi. 22, 23.

O Sovereign Love, to Thee I cry!

Give me Thyself, or else I die!

Save me from death; from h.e.l.l set free!

Death, h.e.l.l, are but the want of Thee.

Quickened by Thy imparted flame, Saved when possessed of Thee, I am: My life, my only heaven Thou art; O might I feel Thee in my heart!

C. WESLEY.

Sin itself is h.e.l.l, and death, and misery to the soul, as being a departure from goodness and holiness itself; I mean from G.o.d, in conjunction with whom the happiness, and blessedness, and heaven of a soul doth consist.

Avoid it, therefore, as you would avoid being miserable.

SAMUEL SHAW.

"I could n't live in peace if I put the shadow of a wilful sin between myself and G.o.d."

GEORGE ELIOT.

Unholy tempers are always unhappy tempers.

JOHN WESLEY.

October 15

_Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me_.--PS. xl. 12, 13.

_Sin shall not have dominion over you_.--ROM. vi. 14.

O Thou, to whose all-searching sight The darkness s.h.i.+neth as the light!

Search, prove my heart; it pants for Thee; Oh, burst these bonds, and set it free!

G. TERSTEEGEN.

Yes, this sin which has sent me weary-hearted to bed and desperate in heart to morning work, that has made my plans miscarry until I am a coward, that cuts me off from prayer, that robs the sky of blueness and the earth of springtime, and the air of freshness, and human faces of friendliness,--this blasting sin which perhaps has made my bed in h.e.l.l for me so long,--this can be conquered. I do not say annihilated, but, better than that, conquered, captured and transfigured into a friend: so that I at last shall say, "My temptation has become my strength! for to the very fight with it I owe my force."

W. C. GANNETT.

October 16

_I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant_.--GEN. x.x.xii. 10.

Some murmur if their sky is clear, And wholly bright to view, If one small speck of dark appear In their great heaven of blue: And some with thankful love are filled, If but one streak of light, One ray of G.o.d's good mercy, gild The darkness of their night.

R. C. TRENCH.

Habitual sufferers are precisely those who least frequently doubt the Divine benevolence, and whose faith and love rise to the serenest cheerfulness. Possessed by no idea of a prescriptive right to be happy, their blessings are not benumbed by antic.i.p.ation, but come to them fresh and brilliant as the first day's morning and evening light to the dwellers in Paradise. With the happy it is their constant peace that seems to come by nature, and to be blunted by its commonness,--and their griefs to come from G.o.d, sharpened by their sacred origin; with the sufferer, it is his pain that appears to be a thing of course, and to require no explanation, while his relief is reverently welcomed as a divine interposition, and, as a breath of Heaven, caresses the heart into melodies of praise.

J. MARTINEAU.

October 17

_Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice_.--I SAM. XV. 22.

_Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you to-day_--EX. xiv. 13.

The folded hands seem idle: If folded at His word, 'Tis a holy service, trust me, In obedience to the Lord.

ANNA s.h.i.+PTON.

It is not the mult.i.tude of hard duties, it is not constraint and contention that advance us in our Christian course. On the contrary, it is the yielding of our wills without restriction and without choice, to tread cheerfully every day in the path in which Providence leads us, to seek nothing, to be discouraged by nothing, to see our duty in the present moment, to trust all else without reserve to the will and power of G.o.d.

FRANcOIS DE LA MOTHE FeNELON.

G.o.dliness is the devotion of the soul to G.o.d, as to a living person whose will is to be its law, whose love is to be its life. It is the habit of living before the face of G.o.d, and not the simply doing certain things.